The Rotating Nuclear Star Cluster in NGC 4244

Understand

We present observations of the nuclear star cluster in the nearby edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4244 using the Gemini Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) with laser guide star adaptive optics.

• From a previous study of edge-on galaxies, this nuclear star cluster was found to be one of a sample of clusters that appear flattened along the plane of their host galaxies disks.
• Such clusters show evidence for multiple morphological components, with younger/bluer disk components and older/redder spheroidal components.
• Our new observations of NGC 4244 show clear rotation of 30 km/sec within the central 10 pc (0.5") of the cluster.